Fitness priority for troupe
The minstrels go through strict physical training routine in the build up to the competition.
|||Cape Town - A 100m world champion sprinter spends months training and preparing for international competition. Aerobic and lactic conditioning and capacity are key elements of any athlete’s regime.
The objective is to build muscle strength and lung capacity, to perform at one’s peak on competition day.
Likewise, the minstrels spend months training for Tweede Nuwejaar, and the days of competition that follow.
What few spectators realise is that they, too, have been put through their paces by their coaches.
“Sunday mornings start with conditioning exercises,” says Malick Laattoe, co-owner of the Santam D6 Entertainers. Aerobic training starts at 7am at Clifton beach.
“Singers are expected to run sprints on the sand, with breaks to belt out choir arrangements.
“The aim,” Laattoe explains, “is to build lung capacity.”
After a few repetitions, a swimming leg is added to the routine.
Members are expected to go for a sprint, sing, brave an icy Atlantic swim, sing and repeat all that.
It’s endurance training more akin to long distance athletes.
No age group is spared, with children and adults having to be in peak physical condition to make the long walk through the city come the march on Tweede Nuwejaar.
More of the same is enforced on the dancers, who also learn stretches and some yoga techniques to keep them limber.
Training continues well into the afternoon, with the band also joining the 800-member team for the afternoon session.
Practice continues until the summer sun sets over Cape Town at around 9pm.
The internal hierarchy is strict, and Laattoe says slackers and those who miss training or rehearsals are moved to the back of the troupe until they are back up to standard, which he says is a “motivator for team members to continuously strive to do better”.
Waleed Hendricks, Santam D6 Entertainer’s band chief executive, says besides competing against other teams, the singers, band and dancers within the troupe are highly driven and try to outdo one another at every opportunity.
The friendly competitiveness drives standards higher every year, but he maintains that “discipline has made the difference”.
It speaks to the original intention of drawing children into the minstrel culture, teaching them responsibility, accountability and the value of consequences.
With 800 people to co-ordinate and motivate, team captains also assume responsibility for the safety and well-being of their members.
For the six days of competition, logistics could easily become a nightmare.
About R30 000 is spent per day on busses and alternative transport to ensure every individual’s needs are catered for.
Children in particular are watched with an eagle’s eye and R4 000 is spent getting the kids to and from practice safely every Friday for five months. Communicating with such a large contingent has been made easier with the growing adoption of social media, and D6 Entertainers prides itself on being the first team to have an active website.
Members keep abreast of changes and arrangements timeously.
According to Laattoe, “coaches can be paid anywhere up to R30 000” depending on their level of experience.
The five months spent rehearsing is coupled with ongoing fundraising events to bring in enough cash to fund the operation.
It is with great pride that Laattoe lists the names of well-known singers who have come through the D6 ranks and have gone on to sing professionally abroad.
He recalls Shaun Tait, winner of Supersterre 2008, a televised reality singing show, who spent a few years with D6 entertainers.
Gavin Roman also has a special place in Laatoe’s heart: “He went from orphanage to orphanage and joined us but couldn’t read or write. Now, he travels around the UK and Spain and on Rhapsody Cruise Liners, singing.”
Roman also sang and performed in the Baxter Theatre with the late Taliep Petersen.
The Cape Minstrels continue to inspire a generation of performers, which provides the comfort of a close-knit community whose intention is to jol, according to dancer Isgak Omar.
“For the sport,” he says, which is the phrase now used to describe what has become a true athletic event.
Cape Argus
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